Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)
"Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)" is the thirteenth episode in the second season of The Venture Bros. It is the season two finale. Plot The episode begins with a twelve second montage of "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)," leading up to Phantom Limb's ultimatum to return Dr. Girlfriend/Dr. Fiancée to him or have the Cocoon and everyone inside destroyed. Pandemonium ensues as all of the guests at the wedding quickly depart to escape Phantom Limb's forces, while the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend/Dr. Fiancée refuse to comply. Angered, Phantom Limb commands two of his operatives--Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop, who had arrived at the wedding with David Bowie undercover in the previous episode--to intervene. Klaus and Iggy advance on Dr. Girlfriend and The Monarch. Bowie then steps in front of the couple to shield them from Iggy's energy orb, calling Iggy a traitor and ordering him to stand down; Iggy refuses. A fight then ensues between Klaus, Iggy, and Bowie. Bowie catches Iggy's energy orb, but disappears when Iggy orders it to pop, leaving a pack of cigarettes as Bowie's only remains. By this time Dr. Girlfriend has fainted and The Monarch cannot revive her, leading him to ask for Brock's help against Iggy and Klaus. In the attack, Klaus uses his bowtie to knock The Monarch on top of Brock, giving him and Iggy enough time to kidnap Dr. Girlfriend, and they drag her out by her hair as The Monarch's henchmen look on. Dean Venture, having been locked in the engine room of The Cocoon in the previous episode, tries to summon help, but can't raise anyone on his wrist radio. After giving up, he walks to the bottom of a staircase and finds a soda can tab. He puts it on his finger, and a mysterious voice tells him that he has found the "ring of power," and that they have been waiting for eons for someone who could successfully wear the ring without dying. Giant Boy Detective--who looks and sounds a lot like Master Billy Quizboy--appears and tells Dean that they are going to save the kingdom and restore Princess Tinglepants--who, likewise, looks and sounds like Triana Orpheus--to the throne so peace will reign for all eternity. He is dressed in the manner of Richard "Data" Wang from Goonies. Dean is disappointed until Giant Boy Detective reluctantly adds that they will also solve a "super cool mystery" in the process. Giant Boy Detective then leads the way with a magic flashlight; he shines his light on the wall and an image of pink clouds and blue sky appears. The Order of the Triad (Doctor Orpheus, The Alchemist, and Jefferson Twilight) are back at The Venture Compound preparing the X-1 to rescue the Ventures and Brock. Doctor Orpheus mentions he is unsure how to fly the X-1. The Sullustan that the Triad summoned from a trading card in the previous episode sits in the co-pilot's seat; The Alchemist, upset about sitting in the back, proposes killing the Sullustan for being "an abomination." The Sullustan sets the controls and the X-1 is on its way. Back at The Cocoon, Brock instructs the Monarch to fly The Cocoon itself to avoid the armada, and to organize an armed strike team to get back Dr. Girlfriend. Brock starts giving orders to the henchmen until The Monarch interrupts him. Brock relents and lets The Monarch give the order to his henchmen to battle stations. Dr. Girlfriend is brought before Phantom Limb at his base airship flying high above The Cocoon in the Guild armada. Phantom Limb tells Dr. Girlfriend to get out of her wedding dress and into her Queen Etherea costume, and to stand at his side. She refuses, and asks if he knows how the Sovereign will react when he finds out that Phantom Limb used the Guild army for a lover's quarrel, as Iggy and Klaus begin laughing in the background. When Dr. Girlfriend asks why they are laughing, Phantom Limb mockingly says that the Sovereign will be all right with it, because he is the Sovereign. He then orders the armada to attack. The Cocoon takes off and evades the armada. Elsewhere in The Cocoon, the henchmen are attempting to create a strike team for Dr. Girlfriend's rescue. #21 arrives and orders the Henchmen to follow a new leader's--Brock Samson in a butterfly costume--instructions. Brock says that even though he's beat on most of the henchmen in the past (some of the henchmen show appreciation for their injuries and express their love for Brock), they have to put aside their differences for the time being and focus on getting back Dr. Girlfriend. In a rousing speech, he says they are no longer butterflies... they are now murderflies. However, when Brock says the plan is to attack Phantom Limb's ship by flying to it, the henchmen's cheering stops. When Brock asks why, Number 24 says that the henchmen can't actually fly and their wings are only decorative, but the henchmen, to their own surprise, discover their wings actually are functional, and they all start to flutter around the room. Hank also wants to help, but Brock says no and tells him to find Dean and go hide. Meanwhile, in Dean's adventure, Triana Orpheus (that is, Princess Tinglepants) appears in a field of puffy clouds and calls Dean a "savior of our world," and Dean is presented to The Great White Oracle (who looks just like Pete White). The Oracle doesn't believe he is a fighter. Dean says that he can do it... he is, after all, the chosen one. The Oracle and a giant rat man--who resembles and talks like Dr. Venture--still don't believe him. Back at the Grand Canyon, Brock is sending the henchmen into battle when he is approached by a 'Russian exchange henchman.' Brock doesn't realize this is actually Hank in disguise--Hank is wearing large sunglasses and his fake beard--and sends him into battle. Hank then promptly falls out of The Cocoon and plummets towards the ground. Brock, now flying, grabs him and finds out who he really is, but as he can't do anything about it, decides take Hank with him. Brock then shouts out tactical instructions to the henchmen as the battle begins. Phantom Limb is alerted to the attack and tells the armada ships to stand their ground and let them come to him. Dr. Girlfriend still can't believe that he is the Sovereign, as she has seen him get chewed out by the Sovereign in the past. With prompting from Phantom Limb, she then realizes that the disruption of the wedding was a secondary target of the real plan, to assassinate and assume the position of the Sovereign, who in fact was David Bowie. Iggy, meanwhile, steps outside to smoke a cigarette. Outside, on top of the Phantom Limb's aircraft, Iggy pulls out a cigarette and notices one has the face of David Bowie. David Bowie appears out of the cigarette and punches Iggy in the face, knocking him off the aircraft, and apparently killing him. Meanwhile, Dean attacks what he thinks is a child labor camp run by The Insect King, a mutant insect that sounds like The Monarch, and disables the engine that the children were powering. At the same moment, The Cocoon's engines go off-line. The Monarch asks his henchmen to go to the engine room and figure out what went wrong, but they refuse, saying it's "creepy down there." The Monarch and Dr. Venture make their way towards Monarch's escape cocoon. David Bowie shapeshifts into Iggy and sneaks into Phantom Limb's main chamber, and disables Klaus by covering his mouth when he begins to use his high pitched voice. Unable to discharge his voice energy, Klaus explodes and dies. Phantom Limb immediately knows it is Bowie and Bowie said he's the Sovereign and starts to fight him. Brock, Hank, #24, and #21 have reached the roof of Phantom Limb's aircraft and are futilely trying to enter (as they forgot the boltcutters) when they are swiped by the X-1. Out of control, the X-1 is about to crash into The Cocoon. Doctor Venture and The Monarch arrive at the escape cocoon and, after getting rid of a passing henchmen who wants to go along, escape The Cocoon. Dean, still hallucinating, has rescued the princess, and all is now well in Insectia. Dean suggests making out with the princess, and does. A giant white dragon tells Dean he loves him. Suddenly, everything goes back to normal and the dragon is revealed to actually be the wreckage of the X-1, which has crashed into the side of The Cocoon. The Sullustan was killed in the crash, and the Alchemist minds the Triad not to step in his remains. Doctor Orpheus and The Alchemist see Dean, still hallucinating, and hope to rescue him from his delusions. The escape cocoon containing The Monarch and Dr. Venture then crashes into Phantom Limb's craft. In the midst of the wreckage, henchmen are everywhere and floating in a river (thanks to their wings, which are also handy flotation devices). The Monarch grabs Dr. Girlfriend and makes sure she is all right. Dr. Girlfriend, although pinned underneath what she thinks is Phantom Limb's leg, is fine. The rest of Phantom Limb is nowhere to be found--apparently, somewhere during the commotion, he has escaped, though he's obviously greviously wounded. The Monarch declares he now has a new arch-enemy, but Bowie tells him not to worry, as whatever is left of Phantom Limb will have nowhere on earth to hide, once he sics his "Diamond Dogs" on him. Bowie then bids them all a fond farewell, wishes Dr. Girlfriend and The Monarch congratulations, and then shapeshifts into a bald eagle and flies away. Doctor Venture survives the crash, although he has swallowed a gold filling. The Order of the Triad arrives with an unconscious Dean in tow. Doctor Orpheus is carrying him when he trips and falls, dropping Dean, and reviving him in the process. Doctor Venture sarcastically thanks Brock for not keeping track of Dean's whereabouts. The Alchemist finds an unspecified invisible severed appendage of the Phantom Limb's and decides to keep it. The Ventures and The Order of the Triad then head home in the X-1, with Dean hanging out of the top of the airplane. Jefferson Twilight asks if Dean will be all right up there since there is limited oxygen and it is extremely cold outside at their altitude. Brock says that Dean does that a lot and he'll pass out in a few minutes. The camera pans down to the sea, where another rescue craft looking similar to the escape cocoon is floating by, inside of which The Monarch and his new wife are on their honeymoon. Dr. Girlfriend says she has something to tell The Monarch that might "change things." Psyching herself up (and inadvertently revealing her given name of Sheila), she takes a deep breath and announces, "Monarch, I'm..." The scene suddenly jumps to the exterior of the rescue cocoon as The Monarch incredulously exclaims, "What?!?" Cultural references *Among the Star Wars references in this episode: **Phantom Limb's command ship resembles the LAAT "Republic Gunships" used in the Clone Wars. **Nien Nunb co-pilots the X-1 just as he co-piloted the Millennium Falcon in Return of the Jedi. **Brock says "Great shot kid, that was one-in-a-million!", a line spoken by Han Solo in A New Hope. **While watching Bowie and Phantom Limb fight, Hank says "It's like Dracula fighting Yoda in there." Aside from mentioning Yoda, this could also be a reference to the battle between Yoda and Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, as Christopher Lee, who played Dooku, is also well-known for his portrayal of Dracula. **The porthole that Iggy uses to exit the craft bears a strong resemblance to the ones shown on the Millennium Falcon at the conclusion of The Empire Strikes Back. **The sound of the Monarch's Cocoon's Engines failing due to Dean's assault is similar to the sound of the Hyper-drive failing on the Millennium Falcon during The Empire Strikes Back. **The Strangers' dialogue at the start of the battle resembles the dialogue during the start of the Imperial counter-attack from Return of the Jedi. **Dean, in his dream, fights an insect-like Monarch. The battle is similar to that between Obi Wan Kenobi and General Grievous from Revenge of the Sith. *The Monarch's insect analogue in Dean's fantasy greatly resembles Zorak. *Dean's fantasy adventure is based on The Neverending Story: Atreyu (Dean), Childlike Empress (Triana), Nighthob (Dr. Venture, similar to Master Splinter), Cairon (Pete White), Rockbiter (Master Billy Quizboy, as Giant Boy Detective), Gmork/Nothing (The Monarch), Falkor (the X-1), and the Auryn of Fantasia ("The Magic Ring of Power", in actuality a pull tab from a soda can). *When Dean crashes through the ceiling of the "child labor camp," he says "Yo, Joe!", the catchphrase and battlecry used in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. *The end credits mentioned, "The Venture Bros will return...", while this is a James Bond homage, it is also an unofficial confirmation of season 3 for the Venture Bros. *This episode has numerous references to the musicians featured in the episode: **When David Bowie transforms from the cigarette pack, he yells "make way for the Homo Superior!," lyrics from his song, "Oh! You Pretty Things." This apparent revelation of his divergence from traditional humans may also be an explanation for his shape-shifting powers. **When Klaus and Iggy present Dr. Girlfriend to Phantom Limb, she calls them his "stooges," to which Klaus responds "I wasn't in the Stooges." Iggy Pop was the founder and leader of the proto-punk band The Stooges. **After Iggy has thrown his energy ball at David Bowie and believes he has killed him, Klaus states "Ding, dong. The Queen Bitch is dead," which is a reference to Nomi's song "Ding, Dong" and Bowie's song "Queen Bitch." This is also a reference to the song sung by the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, one line being "Ding, Dong, the Witch is dead." **Before the fight scene, Iggy says "Now you're gonna be my dog," a reference to the song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by Iggy Pop and The Stooges. He also tells Bowie that for thirty years, he's been playing the idiot, a reference to his solo album The Idiot, as well as the extensive guidance and support Bowie has given Iggy Pop throughout his career. **Hank calls David Bowie "the guy from Labyrinth," in which Bowie played Jareth, the antagonist (who could also turn into a bird, though Jareth was depicted as turning into an owl, not a bald eagle.) **Bowie also states that Phantom Limb is not a worry because he will "sic the Diamond Dogs on him", referencing the 1974 album Diamond Dogs. **When Iggy requests to fight against the Monarch's men, he tells Phantom Limb that he is "a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm." These are lyrics from the song "Search and Destroy," from the 1973 Stooges album Raw Power. Iggy then barks at Phantom Limb to "gimme danger," which references a song title from the album Raw Power. **The Monarch's henchmen namecheck the Bowie albums Station to Station and Changesonebowie. *The Monarch refers to Klaus Nomi as "the one dressed like Taco" and Iggy Pop as "Spicoli," a reference to the Sean Penn character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. *The aerial battle is similar to the one where the Hawkmen take on Ming's air armada in the 1981 Flash Gordon film. *The final scene of The Monarch and Doctor Girlfriend floating away in the escape pod continues the James Bond homage, being a direct visual quote from the ending of The Spy Who Loved Me. *One of the vehicles fleeing from the Monarch's Cocoon appears to be based on a recognizer vehicle from the 1982 film, Tron.Season 2 DVD commentary for "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)" *After Brock knocks Hank out of the aircraft, Hank begins to yell "Fuuuuuuuu..." just as it goes into commercial. After the show comes back, he finishes with "...uuuuuuudge!", fooling viewers into thinking he was going to say fuck. This is a very obvious reference to one of the more famous scenes from the 1983 film A Christmas Story. Connections to other episodes *Hank's henchman costume is the version that was seen in the pilot episode.Episode "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" *The Monarch's set of wings was revealed in "Hate Floats" to be capable of flight, though it wasn't clear if his henchmen's wings were also capable of flight.Episode "Hate Floats" *Dean fantasizes Master Billy Quizboy as the Giant Boy Detective from one of his books. Dean can be seen with this book in "Careers in Science."Episode "Careers in Science" *One of the henchmen who forgives Brock has markings over his face and an eye-patch. This is the henchmen that Brock injured with the tattoo needle in the flashback in Part I.Episode "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)" Trivia *This episode is the first and only two part episode in The Venture Bros.'s two seasons on air (the episode "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II" had no Part I). Instead of a normal recap of the previous episode, the previous episode (or parts therof) were shown at incredibly high speed. *One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) has a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)" there were no end credits and therefore no inside joke. However, for "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)" the credit reads Kimson "Your Favorite Quote Here" Albert. *David Bowie is somewhat accurately portrayed as being heterochromatic, with his right eye being blue and his left eye being red. *The "Astro-Base GO!" logo this usually depicts Soul-Bot next to an odd person or animal. This episode, however, replaces both with the creators of The Venture Bros., Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. *In anger, Dr. Girlfriend refers to Phantom Limb as "Hamilton G. Fantomas," which is presumably his real name. *The cigarettes David Bowie becomes resemble Gauloises Brunes. *After the end credits, Dr. Girlfriend (talking to herself) reveals that her first name is "Sheila." Goofs *Triana Orpheus (dressed as Princess Tinglepants) can be seen leaving the wedding.Comment on Jackson Publick's LiveJournal *As Dean is still wrapped in his fantasy, we are led to assume the epilogue happened shortly after the events of this episode. However, the X-1 was wrecked at the conclusion of the episode, but is later seen in pristine shape. Repairs could not have possibly been done that fast. *Before Dean's fantasy, he was wearing a henchman costume, but at the end he is seen in his dirty, normal clothes. *The Henchmen say they only have the Monarchmobile and 24's Stanza as means of transport. However, in "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean" the Cocoon is shown equipped with a winged dronecraft. Although, in the episode "Victor. Echo. November." 21, 24 and the Monarch discuss the lack of alternate transport ("What do you drive?" "His powder-blue Stanza"), this might not be a goof, as the Henchmen were told to destroy the Cocoon at the end of season one, and the dronecraft (which was never shown in season two) was most likely destroyed along with it. *During the battle between Dean and the Insect King, Dean chops off the Insect King's left arm. Throughout the rest of the scene, the amputated limb switches from the left arm to the right arm and back. *Dr. Girlfriend's Queen Etherea costume is slightly different than in earlier episodes that it was shown in, due the mutilation it suffers from Phantom Limb's inappropriate care for such a delicate filligreed outfit (mutiliation recounted in the Trial of the Monarch). References Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)